they have four children. He was elected Sheriff on the Fusion ticket and is now serving his third term. Mr. Maskell took the last piece of land subject to homestead in Dixon County in 1886 and ran a race through a blizzard to the land office at Niobrara to file his papers in advance of another man. Mr. Maskell has a farm of six hundred acres and is engaged in breeding Hereford cattle. He is the Vice-President of the Newcastle State Bank.

      E. E. RICE was born in Floyd County, Iowa, June 4, 1862. In 1866 he removed with his parents to lona, Nebraska, and has lived in the county almost all his life, where he has been engaged in farming He received his education in the public schools, and was married to Miss Elvira Metcalf in 1885. They have two daughters. Mr. Rice is a member of the Republican party and has been Road Overseer, School Trustee, County Supervisor, Township Assessor and was elected County Clerk in 1901.

      W. J. ARMOUR is a native of Nebraska, having been born March 22, 1868, near Dakota City, where his parents were among the first settlers of that section of Nebraska. After finishing his work in the public schools, he attended Wayne Normal College and the University of South Dakota, pursuing such courses as would prepare him for a business career. In 1890 he removed to Allen, Nebraska, where he engaged in the mercantile business, and moved to Ponca in December, 1903. He was married to Miss Currence Fisher in 1897 and they have one son. Mr. Armour is a Republican and at present is the County Treasurer of Dixon County.

      H. H. HART was born in Richland, Keokuk County, Iowa, April 18, 1867. He came with his parents to Dakota County in 1867 and to Dixon County in 1876, where he has since remained. In 1889 he married Miss Nellie Isom, and they have one son and one daughter. Mr. Hart is engaged in raising registered short horn cattle near Ponca, where he owns a fine farm, he is affiliated with the Republican party, and was Sheriff of Dixon County from 1895 to 1900 and was appointed County Treasurer to fill a vacancy. He is now serving his first term as Judge of Dixon County.

      J. M. HURLEY was born in Dixon County, December 15, 1873. His father came to Dixon County in the fifties and was at one time Treasurer of Dixon County. He was educated in the public schools and is engaged in farming and breeding registered Hereford cattle. In April, 1899, he married Miss Mariam McShane, and they have two daughters. He is a member of the Democratic party and was elected Clerk of the District Court in 1899 and re-elected in 1903. Aside from his duties as Clerk of the District Court, he is engaged in real estate and insurance business.

      A. N. PORTER was born in Ponca, Nebraska, July 31, 1870, and has spent all his life in the county, where he has followed the trade of a carpenter. His father, N. S. Porter, was a millwright by trade, but was employed by the government during the latter part of his life, and was one of the early settlers of Dixon County. He received a public school education in Dixon County. He was married to Miss Liland E. Johnson in 1898 and they have three daughters. Mr. Porter is in the Republican party and has been Deputy Clerk for seven years.

      C. D. STOUGH was born in Ponca, Nebraska, November 23, 1875, and has lived in Dixon County all his life. He graduated from the Ponca High School in 1891, Midland College, Atchison, Kansas, 1896, and took postgraduate work at Princeton University in 1898 and 1899. He has been Principal of the Ponca High School four and one-half years and Deputy County Treasurer one term. He is affiliated with the Republican party. His parents came to Dixon County 1857 and took a homestead west of the present site of the County seat.

      N. P. HEYDON was born in Ponca, Nebraska, April 5, 1863, where he grew to manhood and has resided all his life. He attended the public schools of Dixon County, but as these schools were not far advanced in his youth, he is for the most part a self-made man. In 1887 he married Miss Susan Bell and they have two daughters. He is engaged in the implement business at Ponca and is serving his second term as Mayor, being associated with the Republican party. Mr. Heydon helped build the Northwestern Railroad through this section.

     CLARENCE A. KINGSBURY was born at Mt. Carmel, Illinois, January 15, 1862, of American parentage. He was educated in a Normal School and took a course in the University of South Dakota. He came to Ponca, Nebraska, in 1886 and has been practicing law at that place since 1893. He is a member of the People's Independent party and has been County Attorney of Dixon County since January, 1900.

     Dodge County is in many respects entitled to its reputation of being the 'banner county" of Nebraska. All land values are high, no lands selling for less than $50 per acre. In the sugar beet industry it is first in the state, and this county pays the highest wages to farm laborers. In 1900 Dodge shipped more cattle than any other county, was second in the hog market, and third in the sheep industry. It is said that there is no fruit that will not flourish here, if given proper cultivation. There are many groves and orchards besides native timber. There are over 250,000 acres of some of the richest soil in the world, only seven per cent being untillable, rough and sandy tracts. The Platte and Elkhorn Rivers, with Logan, Maple, Cuming, Pebble and Rawhide Creeks, make up the fine water system. The county has a comparatively small area of 460 square miles and occupies the land just at the junction of the Platte and Elkhorn Rivers. Its railroads and rivers account for the great commercial and agricultural progress. The first claims were taken by John and Arthur Bloomer in 1856 near the mouth of Maple Creek. In the

same year Mrs. Wealthy Beebe and family, .with her son-in-law, Abram McNeal and family, located two miles west of what is now Fremont. In 1857 the Pawnees occupied the south bank of the Platte and their main village was almost opposite Fremont. Because there was an exceptionally hard winter in 1857, the Indians actually believed that the white men were the cause of it, and they avenged themselves in many little ways. The financial panic in 1857 sorely affected this county as well as many others. Fremont was the first town which was platted, and it was laid out August 3, 1856. Seth P. Marvin was instrumental in this work, and he has been called the "Father of Fremont." The town was named in honor of Col. John C. Fremont, who was the opposing candidate of President Buchanan.

      GEORGE J. CODDINGTON was born July 5, 1863, in Middletown, New York. He left New York in July, 1884, coming to West Point, Nebraska. Leaving there shortly after, he worked at Scribner and Hooper, Nebraska, for two years at carpenter work. He attended the Fremont Normal School and graduated from there in 1887. He clerked in a clothing store a few months, after which he began work for the F., E. & M, V. R. R. Company as check clerk, until he became chief clerk and cashier. He was appointed Deputy County Clerk in 1889 and Deputy Treasurer in November, 1892, which position he filled until 1901, when he was elected County Treasurer of Dodge County and re-elected in 1903. He is a member of the Democratic party.

      JOHN O'CONNOR is a native of Nebraska, having been born in Dodge County, October 27, 1872, where he was brought up and educated in the common schools. All his life has been spent in the county, most of it on a farm, from which he was elected to the office of Register of Deeds on the Democratic ticket. He was married in 1903 and has held various township offices.

     ROBERT J. STINSON is a native of New York, having been born in Delaware County in 1854. In 1881 he went to Winfield, Iowa; later to South Dakota, and then to Omaha in 1884. He taught school in Douglas County for a short time and then came to Fremont in January, 1889. He was educated in Stanford Seminary, New York, and studied in a law office until he was admitted to the bar in that state. He practiced four years at North Bend, Nebraska. In 1890 he was married to Miss Minnie Sebring, of St. Louis, Missouri. Mr. Stinson is a member of the Republican party and has served two terms as City Attorney and is now serving his second term as County Attorney of Dodge County.

      A. H. BRIGGS is a native of Kalamazoo County, Michigan, having been born November 20, 1847. He removed with his parents from Michigan to Mills County, Iowa, in 1856, and in 1869 he came to Dodge County, Nebraska. His father was a contractor and builder and also a miller. Mr. Briggs was educated principally in Tabor College, Iowa, and studied law one year at the University of Michigan and later in a law office. He was married in 1877 and again in 1903 and has three children. He has been Justice of the Peace, Notary, a member of the School Board and is now serving his second term as Judge of Dodge County. He is affiliated with the Republican party.

      J. M. CRUICKSHANK was born in Scotland in 1843 and came to the United States in the fifties. He began work on the Union Pacific Railroad in 1868 and remained with them seventeen years; then, after farming four years, was employed four years more by the Missouri Pacific. He was educated in the Nebraska public schools, but for the greater part he made his own way. In 1870 he married Miss Mary Davidson, and they have four children. He is a member of the Democratic party and is serving his second term as Clerk of the District Court of Dodge County.

      C. O. BOE was born in Bergen, Norway, November 20, 1868. He came with his parents to the United States in 1870 and settled in Salem, Ohio, where he lived until his nineteenth year, when he came to Dodge County, Nebraska. His education was gained in the Salem public schools and the Fremont Normal College, graduating from the scientific course of the latter institution. Mr. Boe taught school for two years and has been engaged in farming. He was County Superintendent of Dodge County for four years and in 1903 was elected Clerk of the same county on the Democratic ticket.

     A. BAUMAN, JR., is a native Nebraskan, having been born in Fremont October 29, 1871. His father was an old settler of Dodge County and was a grain and stock dealer; also the proprietor of the Farmers' Hotel at Fremont. He was educated in the Fremont public schools and attended the Fremont Business College